Hard drive or logic board problem?

If your iMac has got one of the damaged Seagate disks and it's failing, take it to an Apple Store and they'll run a diagnostic to see if there's something wrong. It could be the hard disk, so open Disk Utility and verify the disk

Also run Apple Hardware Test in Extended Mode. You should run the test a minimum of 3 times as it sometimes takes that many passes to locate an issue. It will provide error codes which you can take to your local Apple Store or AASP and they can advise where the issue is.

To run AHT please CAREFULLY read:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509

You will only be able to start AHT with D key if you haven't formatted your hard drive. If you formatted the hard disk, insert your Snow Leopard disc and press D key on boot

If you haven't erased the disk after you bought your computer. Apple Hardware Test is installed on your Mac by default, but it's deleted when you erase the disk

Jumping in and hopefully not stirring up things too much. Immediately, contact Apple's Express Lane and setup an onsite repair visit. Don't wait. Mine went south in April. First the boot volume failed, but others worked. Tried to restore the boot volume from a clone, still didn't work. Finally, without any of your symptoms, it flat died. With two ext FWHDs and multiple clones, they continued working. So, run the machine from an ext HD and minimize read and writes to the int HD. Stop sleeping the machine or its HDs.

As for AHT, upgrading to Lion or ML mucks up using it from the installed OS. See my post at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4427984?answerId=20014699022#20014699022 for steps on restoring it.

babowa wrote:

Ahh, thanks - the partitions have been erased multiple times during testing, so that option is obviously gone.... will do this later after I get my second clone updated.

Have a status report?

Thanks. Once you get that set up, peruse the AHT discussion. IIRC, your machine shipped w/SL, so you should be able to restore the CMD+D capability.

babowa wrote:

Okay, finally off the phone - on site hard drive replacement is set up.

Well, aside from the D key, we also tried the DVD - it would not work. On the internet AHT (Option and D), I got the "this computer does not support AHT". Just D did not work - even with a newly resurrected USB keyboard. Neither did the install disk #2 which plainly states that it has AHT on it. Could not boot with C key or Option key and it did not show up in Startup Disk Prefs. She was stumped on that one - since I now have ML on it, I guess it will no longer boot with an SL disk. I might have had success booting into my external SL partition and then trying it, but she did not want that. I may try it IF I have time this weekend just for the heck of it.

It should still boot with the SL disc. Mine does. You might want to Zap the PRAM and Reset the SMC, then booting with the disc again. In any case, you should still be able to copy the .diagnostics folder to the ML boot volume (do that on one of your clones).

All in all , they weren't sure if it was "only" the hard drive or if there is logic board issue, but the decision was to start with the hard drive and see if that takes care of it. The tech is supposed to check it after the drive is replaced as well.

The noises usually indicate an HD issue, not the logic board.

During one of the many hold periods, I was actually able to find my sales receipt for the iMac that is part of the HD recall and also found their [new owner's] email address - shot off an email with a copy of the Apple email, so they can get it replaced; although, that hard drive always was the most quiet drive I've ever had—comparing it with this thing which sounded like it was having digestive problems from day one.

Nice. They should appreciate that. Also, they should have reregistered it under their name. BTW, I never hear the old one or this new one.

Two current clones are done and I'll work on moving my current movie project to an external lock stock and barrel. After that, I'll wait for the phone call and then wipe the drive on the day of the appointment.

I'd start now and just run it from one of your clones and then update the other one. Zeroing out the HD could take awhile. No sense rushing.

Pay attention when they open it up. There are a least four sets of connectors that need removal until they can get complete access to the innards. Also, ensure that the vents get vacuumed and the display and glass cover are completely wiped clean.

Enjoy the venture. 😎